With more than one million page views and more than 4,000 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Monday, February 23, 2015

More details are emerging on the $100 billion, international
stem cell/genomics research proposal being offered up by Bob Klein, the first
chairman of California’s stem cell agency.

Klein’s plan was discussed in a piece by Bradley Fikes of
the San Diego U-T, the only daily newspaper in California’s second largest
city. The article yesterday also carried videos of Klein pitching his plan.

Klein, a real estate investment banker, cited California’s $3 billion stem cell agency as an example to
be emulated internationally. It operates on money that the state borrows
(bonds), which roughly doubles the cost of the research because of the interest
expense.

He said an international research organization could be
supported by bonds which are backed by pledges from 15 countries, including the
United States.

Fikes quoted Klein, who left the California agency three
years ago, as saying,

"Because the borrowing is so much cheaper than anything
a country can do, from the surplus funds we raise, which are about 35 percent
to 40 percent more than most countries can raise from the same amount of money,
we can have an international pool, where we can collaborate and compete through
peer review."

Fikes continued,

“Klein pointed to the International Finance Facility for
Immunization as an international public-private partnership as a financial
model. Using long-term government pledges as collateral, the agency can raise
capital as needed from the bond markets.”

Neither article also carried any reference to Klein’s earlier
proposal for another $5 billion bond issue to continue the operations of the
California stem cell agency, which will run out of money in 2020 based on
current spending rates.

Klein and U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, shared an
appearance at a cancer conference last week at UC San Diego. Both extolled the
power of using patient advocates as the leading edge of lobbying for research
funds.

Fikes wrote,

“Peters…said scientists must broaden their political base
beyond their traditional bastions if they wish to become more influential.
Patient advocates are key.

"'When we're fighting for NIH funding, a lot of the
voices for that come from people who are in universities and in areas of
science, and a fairly narrow political spectrum,’ Peters said. ‘Frankly, they
tend to be people from Boston, and San Francisco and San Diego, who don't
always vote the same way that people from West Texas, or Kansas or rural
Wisconsin vote. So patient advocates provide a huge imput for folks from all
across the country."

“Klein recounted an example of how that coalition succeeded
in keeping diabetes research money flowing in 2002 when that funding was
threatened with interruption. He said the bill, which required unanimous
consent, got through the House with the support of then-House Speaker Denny
Hastert, an Illinois Republican, who had a staff member with Type 1 diabetes."

Fikes continued,

"'Oklahoma is not a hotbed of scientific support, but
through a weekend effort, JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) was able to get 25,000 emails generated,' Klein said. ‘But more importantly, the patient advocates working as informed
advocates with the scientists from the Type 1 research and clinical areas got
to enough chairmen of the boards and board members and CEOS of major
corporations in Oklahoma that they shut down the switchboards of Sen. Nickles'
offices in Oklahoma and Washington D.C. with calls.’"

“Nickles released his hold on the bill.

"'We had unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate, two
hours before the end of the special session, because scientists informed and
teamed up with patient advocates ... ' Klein said."

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.